A consortium led by The Wonki Collective is building an AI system to match surplus food from manufacturers with charities and other buyers, then moving it in a zero-emission truck that tracks every crate in real time. The problem is straightforward: the UK’s food manufacturing sector wastes enormous amounts of food because manufacturers, charities, and logistics firms cannot easily see what surplus exists, who needs it, or how to move it efficiently. Current redistribution efforts work, but they lack the visibility and coordination to scale. If SauceAI succeeds, it will connect small and large food processors through shared data, letting them automatically identify surplus, match it to demand, and arrange low-carbon transport with full traceability. For the manufacturer, that means lower waste-disposal costs and new revenue from what was once thrown away. For the charity, it means reliable access to food. For the logistics provider, it means a data-enabled electric truck that can prove the food’s quality and chain of custody at every stop. The system is designed to work across the wider food processing and logistics industries, not just this single demonstration.
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**Business need** As the UK's largest manufacturing sector, the food manufacturing industry represents £104bn \[_great.gov.uk,2024_\]. Its supply-chains are fraught with inefficiencies, resulting in significant food waste/CO2e/cost. The industry produces ~1.4m tonnes of food waste yearly \[_WRAP,2023_\], accounting for up to 10% of manufacturers' costs \[_McKinsey,2022_\]. Whilst progress has been made to redistribute food \[_WRAP, 2022_\], challenges remain around visibility/traceability of surplus in supply-chains, mapping excess supply with demand, and redistributing with timely/efficient/low-carbon/fully traceable logistics. **Approach** This consortium, led by The Wonki Collective(TWC), is revolutionising surplus food identification and redistribution. Partnering with Nestlé, Howard Tenens Logistics(HTL), Bristol Superlight(BSL) Sustainable Ventures(SV), and FareShare, subcontractors Google and FuturePlus, and non-funded partner Mindful Chef(MC), this industrial research project will demonstrate the SauceAI solution in an operational environment to TRL7\. This is an expert, innovation-led partnership, optimised to develop a solution suitable for the wider food processing and logistics industries. **Innovation** **SauceAI** utilises AI/ML technology to enable data-sharing between food processors (hereafter referred to as manufacturers), buyers (including charities or other food manufacturers), and logistics providers to optimise and automate the identification/tracking/management/redistribution of national supply-chain food surplus through innovative data-enabled transport. We will develop and integrate TWC's ML-enabled matchmaking algorithm (which matches food surplus supply with demand) with BSL's proprietary management and AI-driven analytics software (which analyses/shares payload bay data along the supply-chain to assure quality and enable a 'Chain of Trust' between organisations of all sizes). Relying on SauceAI, HTL will deliver surplus food from Nestlé to FareShare in BSL's zero-emission capability OV-1 cloud-connected data-enabled truck. This addresses the traceability/supply/demand/transport challenges within food manufacturing for SMEs and large manufacturers, creating a more resource-efficient/innovative/productive supply-chain. **Key Objectives** Improve resource-efficiency and supply-chain productivity by enabling data-sharing in a trustless environment through APIs that connect SMEs and large organisations. Objectives for specific BridgeAI sectors include: Agriculture/food processing: * Enable manufacturers to optimise waste management and surplus redistribution, improving end-to-end identification/tracking/decision-making. * Enable manufacturers to reduce costs related to food waste, create additional revenue streams, and limit their CO2e. * Enable manufacturers and charities to purchase/be donated surplus resources, with full transparency. Transport/logistics/warehousing: * Manage cost-effective end-to-end food redistribution with full visibility/traceability. * Demonstrate capability of BSL's zero-emission OV-1 truck for moving high volumes of food at higher quality/lower cost/zero emissions. Total project costs are £2,757,247, with a £1,907,475 contribution of requested from IUK. Additionally, Google will provide pro-bono work (~£40,000).
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